Monday, September 06, 2010

Labor Day News Briefs.....

*More trouble looming for Tsao? Chin-Hui Tsao went to a tryout for some Indy League team in Texas, and in the process of trying to obtain a work visa in the US, was taken down when he entered Taiwan at immigrations. The court had ordered him twice to attend court sessions as a possible witness to provide further "insider info" related to the game-fixing scandals, but he was a no-show both times. Hence, he was taken into custody and then subsequently released after he was given a warning that if he is a no-show again, he'll be fined 30K NT. Tsao listed "cousin--Kelvin Lee" on his contact info to which Tsao explained that K. Lee is not his cousin but his agent instead.

Minor League Run Down (as of 9/5):AAA
-The last of the 7 figure signing bonus recipients - RHP Ching-Lung Lo is now in AAA.
-RHP Hung-Wen Chen has found sledding in AAA pretty tough (3-3, 6.04 ERA). He was an AA All-Star earlier this season.
-Since being sent down earlier in the season,leftyFu-Te Ni has also struggled in AAA (7.94 ERA).

AA
-IF Yung-Chi Chen is hitting .205 on the year at the AA level between two organizations.
-OF Chih-Hsien Chiang's season is over due to a sore wrist, but he hit .260 with 11 HR's and 65 RBI in AA ball. Check out his progression over the past few months (April .117 BA, May .212 BA, June .272 BA, July .320 BA, August .322 BA). Heralded teammate OF Che-Hsuan Lin was hitting .275 with 2 HR's and 26 SB in AA. He also had an impressive 72 BB/63 SO ratio.
-RHP Chen-Chang Lee has had an impressive season in AA - with a >1:1 K/IP ratio (82/72.2) and a 3.22 ERA. Lee will be playing in the AFL this fall.
-RHP Chia-Jen Lo has missed most of the season with a partial tear of his UCL, but he started the year in AA ball.

A+
-After starting the year in AA ball, OF Kuo-Hui Lo was demoted to A+ ball and has actually fared worse, hitting only .224 with 0 HR's (.233/ 4 HR's - season total).
-In contrast, C Chun-Hsiu Chen was promoted to A+ ball and has been tearing the cover off of the ball - .321, 6 HR's, .976 OPS at Kinston (.316, 12 HR's, 69 RBI - season total).

A
-Reliever Sheng-An Kuo is third in the SAL (A ball) with 20 saves. He was a midseason All-Star.
-OF Wang-Wei Lin hit .231 with 1 HR and 11 SB's in A ball.
-RHP Tzu-Kai Chiu is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in A ball (2-0, 1.69 ERA - season total).

A-ss
-C Chia-Chu Chen had his problems at the plate this year in A-ss ball (.171 BA, 1 HR, 6 RBI).
-Earlier this season, 22 year old OF Chao-Ting Tang was demoted from A+ ball to the NYPL (A-ss) and has still been unable to find his stroke - .197 BA, 0 HR's (.200 BA, 0 HR's - season total).
-IF Pin-Chieh Chen was rewarded with a promotion to A-ss ball after a nice debut in the AZL (R). (.295 BA, 0 HR's, 10 SB - season total)

R
-19 year old RHP Yao-Wen Chang continued to struggle in his 3rd year of pro ball with Pulaski (R) -10.07 ERA, batters hit .360 off of him.
-C Meng-Hsiu Tsai made his US minor league debut this year in the GCL (R), but was hitless in 4 AB's.
-After starting the season in A-ss, RHP Yao-Lin Wang has had a nice first season in the AZL (R) - 2.12 ERA, 19 K's/17 IP - (1-3, 4.06 ERA, 29 K's, 31 IP - season total).
-The Pirates trio of Ping-Hung Chi, Chih-Wei Hsu, and Sheng-Cin Hong found life difficult in their US debut at the R level.
OF Chi hit .138 with 23 K's in 58 AB. IF Hsu hit .154 with 16 K's in 39 AB. RHP Hong allowed 4 HR's in 13.1 IP and had an ERA of 14.18.
-RHP Tzu-An Wang was 0-2 with a 7.32 ERA (19 K's/19.2 IP) in his US debut in R ball.
-In his first year stateside, IF Fu-Lin Kuo hit .243 with 4 HR's and 23 RBI in the GCL (R).
-RHP Po-Cheng Chi was 1-0 with a 5.02 ERA in his US debut in the AZL (R) -
although command was an issue: 5 K's, 17 BB's, 14.1 IP
-Last but not least, IF Zhi-Fang Pan - the most recent signee to make his debut in the US, had an excellent first season at the plate - .331 BA in 157 AB in the AZL (R).

*NT developments - Three Up, Three Down - OF Kuo-Hui Lo, IF Yung-Chi Chen, and P Ming-Chieh Hsu have been cleared by their organizations to participate with the NT. Top lefties - Wei-Yin Chen and Fu-Te Ni, as well as Chen-Chang Lee will not be available for NT services. Replacing them on the 45 man preliminary roster are amateur players: LHP Hung-Cheng Lai, RHP Chen-Hua Lin, and BayStars RHP Yi-Cheng Wang.

*CPBL Update - Lions SP Ching-Ming Wang - CPBL ROY? Wang was the Lions top pick in the '08 CPBL draft. Wang's 9 wins are good for 3rd in the league, while his 3.74 ERA (13th) and 75 K's (9th) also are among league leaders. His main competition may come from Bears slugger - Hung-Yu Lin (.311, 8 HR's, 60 RBI).